<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Everyday Forever by thefoghaslifted</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29564199">Everyday Forever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefoghaslifted/pseuds/thefoghaslifted'>thefoghaslifted</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fitzbabies, Introspection, New Dream Week 2021 (Disney), Plans For The Future</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:01:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29564199</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefoghaslifted/pseuds/thefoghaslifted</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into what Eugene and Rapunzel both thought their future would be throughout their lives, and how everything changed when they met.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Everyday Forever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Eugene never truly wanted an island.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For years, he had told everyone he wanted an island alone with lots of money and a huge castle. Really, though, he had just wanted to believe that he had a goal he was working towards. If there was no goal, then there was no clear end, which would mean that he would be caught in the loop of stealing and running away forever. Even Flynn Rider knew that wasn’t a good long term plan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, he fabricated his own goal. He wasn’t sure what he would do with his island, he just told himself that he wanted it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, his plan was to bring Stalyan and Lance to his island with him. He thought that the three of them could live together and not have to steal to live anymore. They could finally be happy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he left Stalyan at the altar. He felt bad about it, sure, but he ran away without a second thought. He couldn’t marry her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was pretty sure he wasn’t capable of loving anyone. By all accounts, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>should </span>
  </em>
  <span>love Stalyan, right? She was there for him, encouraging him to do the things he was scared to do. Her version of “love” was wanting him to be his best. Sure, she did that by pointing out his problems and telling him to change, but it was out of love. She encouraged him to be the person they both wanted him to be. And love changes people and makes them their best self. So if he didn’t love Stalyan, maybe he couldn’t really love anyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So his “island plan” turned into just him and Lance. He didn’t even try to get into a real relationship with anyone else after Stalyan. He didn’t know how to love anyone, so it was much easier to stick to casual relationships. Besides, he didn’t need anyone else. Him and Lance would stay together like they had their whole lives.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he left Lance behind. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Every man for himself, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thought. Oldest and closest friends were no exception to that rule. Even if he could hear Lance calling his name while he ran away, even if just thinking about Lance would destroy him inside for years. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was completely alone. He had pushed everyone away, just like he always did. His life stopped seeming as glamorous as he once thought it was. He felt like he was just coasting from job to job, waiting to feel something, </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything,</span>
  </em>
  <span> again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His island was the only thing to look forward to. Once he had a lavish life alone, he would be happy again. It would be an ending to the blur of a life he was living. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew his thieving had to come to an end eventually. He just didn’t have a preference to whether that “end” was an island, or the business end of a sword.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was before he met her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In all honesty, at first he didn’t care for her. He figured she was another girl he could use his “Flynn Rider Technique” on. Smolder, spend the night, then leave. But as it turned out she was frustratingly resistant to his charms, and she roped him into helping her. </span>
</p><p><span>That was when his whole view on life changed. He thought he wasn’t capable of really loving anyone, but not only was he madly in love with this girl after only a day of knowing her, he wanted</span> <span>to be loved by her. She never tried to </span><em><span>force </span></em><span>him to be a different person, but she made him </span><em><span>want </span></em><span>to be better. He didn’t care about his island, he just wanted to go with her wherever she went. </span></p><p>
  <span>Of course, the universe was cruel, and once he had decided that he definitely wanted to stay alive for her, he met the end he had been waiting for. But looking back, he would do it again and again if he had to. He didn’t care at all as long as it meant that she could live the life she deserved. He hadn’t done anything worthwhile with his life, and he wanted to make up for that by giving up his life so she could do something worthwhile with hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he got a miracle he didn’t really deserve. He came back. He got the opportunity to </span>
  <em>
    <span>truly </span>
  </em>
  <span>be happy with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time he realized that he loved her was at the campfire. The first time he realized he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her was in the boat surrounded by lanterns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had never wanted to call Stalyan his fiance, much less his </span>
  <em>
    <span>wife. </span>
  </em>
  <span>With her, though, he wanted to call her his wife right away. Not only that, but he wanted to be known as her husband. He wanted to spend every minute with her, and he wanted them to grow old together. She was a beam of light in the darkness of life. Honestly, he was surprised that he held back on proposing for 6 months. It took everything in him to not drop down on one knee in their first week of knowing each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After years of not thinking he actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>deserved</span>
  </em>
  <span> anyone, loving Rapunzel and being loved in return made him happier than he ever thought he could be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rapunzel had always hoped she wouldn’t be in the tower forever. For as long as she could remember, she would lean out the window to feel the breeze on her face and imagine what it would be like to be out there. </span>
</p><p><span>Mother used to say things like </span><em><span>soon but not yet, </span></em><span>but deep down Rapunzel knew that she didn’t mean it.</span> <span>She always felt like it was a false hope, and after leaving the tower she realized that her Mother didn’t really mean </span><em><span>anything </span></em><span>she said. </span></p><p>
  <span>Back in her tower, she didn’t let anything stop her from dreaming. She dreamed of what it would be like to be outside the tower. She imagined that someday Mother would let her see the floating lights, just to be beyond the tower for one day (and maybe that “one day” would make Mother realize that she really </span>
  <em>
    <span>could </span>
  </em>
  <span>handle herself in the world). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she got older, it slowly became clearer that that wasn’t going to happen. She would ask more often, and Mother would brush her off. Whenever she got more anxious to leave, her Mother would bring her new paints, or a new instrument, or would give her a new chore she could do to clean the tower. Anything to keep her distracted from the thought of leaving. Because, like Mother would say, what more could she need if she had everything she could possibly want inside the tower, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>isn’t she grateful for what Mother does for her? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The day before her 18th birthday, it was abundantly clear that her Mother was never going to let her leave, so she would have to take matters into her own hands. Luckily, she had someone that was more than happy to take her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay, maybe “more than happy” is a bit of an overstatement. More like he was… gently forced to help her. But he helped nonetheless!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they grew closer together, her dreams of the future slowly changed. She imagined what it would be like to permanently leave the tower and stay with him. She could see even more of the world with him by her side. </span>
</p><p><span>She wasn’t sure if he</span> <span>would </span><em><span>want</span></em><span> to stay with her, and she knew Mother would never let her leave the tower, even after she showed she could handle herself. She wondered what she would even </span><em><span>do</span></em><span> if she never went back to her tower, but how could she go back after everything she’s seen?</span></p><p>
  <span>On the boat waiting to see the lanterns, he practically echoed her own thoughts when he told her she got to find a new dream. Her dream of seeing the lanterns was almost over, she could look forward to something else. As the lanterns painted the sky, thoughts of a future with him overtook her mind. Her new dream could start here and now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then that dream crashed and burned when he left her for the crown (or so she thought). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>From there, her future was changing by the second. She thought she was back in her tower to stay, then she realized that she was the Lost Princess, then </span>
  <span>Mother</span>
  <span> Gothel chained her up and once again she thought she would never leave the tower.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And when he returned and promptly got stabbed, she was ready to give up her small glint of hope that she would be able to see the world as long as she knew he would be okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, with the help of a mirror shard and a magic tear, her future was looking bright again. Not only was she a part of the real world, she had a real family. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That first day in the castle, she told him that she would understand if he didn't want to be a part of her new life. He didn’t sign up for any of this, and it was a very different life than what he was used to. She would understand if he took the reward her parents offered him and left. Much to her relief, he assured her that he wanted to stay if she would have him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was glad he would stay with her. He became her rock, and she wanted him there in everything she did. She didn’t want to be away from him, because everything felt right when they were together. The world falls into place when she gets to hold his hand, even if everything around them is going wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t want a future without Eugene in it, and having him with her was the easiest decision she ever made. And she kept making that simple decision every day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>**</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If someone had told either of them years ago that this was where they would end up, they wouldn’t believe it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rapunzel quietly pushed open the door to the nursery and was met with the sight of her husband holding a sleeping child in each arm. Eugene looked up with a smile as she walked in. “Hey, Sunshine,” he greeted softly as she walked over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” she smiled, reaching out to take their son from his hold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, as much as I love them, I can’t help but be glad there wasn’t a third one coming to surprise us,” Eugene joked. “I’ve only got 2 arms.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She laughed softly, looking down at the baby she held. Her heart warmed whenever she got to hold one of them in her arms, knowing that it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>child, and she would do all she could to give them the best life they could have. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Being pregnant with twins wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, to say the least. In the end, though, it was beyond worth it. She had 2 bundles of joy that she loved with all her heart. They were the most perfect things she had ever seen. (“That’s just what happens when the two prettiest people in the kingdom have kids together,” Eugene had said earlier. She was inclined to agree.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eugene had always wanted to have kids. Back when he was Flynn Rider, he had said he would never want to have a “little nuisance” with him all the time, but in reality he had known since the orphanage that he would want a child to love and take care of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, his entire demeanor would soften whenever he even looked at their kids. He would move heaven and earth for them to be happy, no matter what. His wife and his children mattered to him more than anything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rapunzel felt the same way. Having children that she knew she could do right for was the best feeling, and she was ready to put their happiness above all. Seeing the way her babies’ faces would light up with little smiles that looked just like Eugene’s filled her with all the joy in the world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked down at the little angels she and Eugene held, then lifted her head to meet his eyes. At the same time, they both had the same thought running through their head.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How did I ever think my future could be anything but this?</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>notice how the kids have no names bc i couldnt figure out what to name them lol </p><p>anyways as always leave kudos/comments if you enjoyed 💕💕 see you tomorrow for the last day (rip) of ndaw!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>